VanDrunen, David. A Biblical Case for Natural Law. Acton Institute. 2006. 75p. index. ISBN 978-880595-23-0. Contributed by Michael Farrell, Associate Librarian, RTS-Orlando.
Using Scripture itself, VanDrunen attempts to prove that the Bible does not provide specific instruction for all areas of life. Rather, the Bible points humanity toward “natural law,” a commonly held set of moral guidelines that are known apart from God’s Special Revelation. Well-established in Roman Catholic thought, natural law has its detractors in many Protestant circles. VanDrunen makes the case that natural law is rooted in Biblical teaching and in the thought of Protestant giants such as Calvin and Luther. Basing much of his thought on man’s creation in the Image of God, VanDrunen succinctly exegetes other Scripture relevant to the natural law debate. He carefully explains St. Augustine’s “two kingdom’s theory” which he believes provides the structure in which people can use natural law. VanDrunen would agree with Kuyper that there is not a square inch in the universe over which God does not claim sovereignty. However, unlike some of Kuyper’s followers, Vandrunen would also say that God rules different parts of that universe with different means. God rules his church through the means of grace and most specially the preached Word of God. God in general rules history and the physical universe with natural law. Both the Bible and natural law are divine in origin, both are gifts from God that people must follow in order to “function properly.” When we try to use Scripture when we should be using natural law, we will run into trouble; and when we try to use natural law when we should be using Scripture, we will run into a very similar trouble.
Filed under: Reviews | Tags: ATLA, book reviews, digital media, reading suggestions
I recently came across the work of a fellow librarian – Dr. Mark Herring at Winthrop University – who wrote an article, “Ten Reasons why the Internet is No Substitute for a Library” (click to read). Dr. Herring has also written the book Fool’s Gold, which expounds the same topic at greater length (book is on order – feel free to reserve it if you want to read it when it arrives). Now I realize you’d expect those of us who earn our livings running a library to be book advocates – but Herring points out (in the book in particular) some compelling reasons why dependence on online information can be a perilous choice. I’ve pointed out in orientation sessions and our writing workshop how Google’s so-called relevance ranking is a lot less about relevance than it is about paid-rankings. But Herring develops things in much greater depth – and is engaging to read as well, even if you disagree with him at points.
At the very least, try to read the article. Then perhaps you’ll be stirred to read the book too. Or we can have coffee and you can listen to me rant from my soapbox…
10/15…Here is a follow-on related link to the one above: The Death of the Book?
Here is a review of our James Anderson’s book, Paradox in Christian Theology:
http://paulhelmsdeep.blogspot.com/2009/06/paradox-and-mystery.html
Congrats to Dr. Anderson!
